Product Survey: Video Projectors : Sony VPL-HW10
13. Sony VPL-HW10
Our settings
Remember, our objective here is to get as neutral an image as possible. Along with a color temperature of 6500K and a smooth progression through grey tones.
Note that with the default settings, the lamp is not in economy mode. To activate eco mode, you first need to go to Cinema Black Pro and select lamp command: low. Next go to advanced menu settings and set the gamma at 3, the darkest setting. Not ideal as it tends to make the image a bit dark, but its the best we could get.
For temperature color, we struggled to do much better than the low default setting, in terms of getting our 6500K. We chose the following: Gain R 30, G -4, B -30; Polarisation R -2, G 0 and B 2. With these settings, color temp oscillates around 7500K. I brought brightness down to 44/45 so as to improve the darker areas.
Wide or normal color space? Definitely normal. This mode gives much more natural and neutral colors. Wide mode makes tones explode and denature the image completely. Ideally, thered be an intermediary setting.
Sony is back with a bang in the video projector product category. Our last Sony test dates back to 2007 and the VPL-AW10. We’re making up for lost time with the VPL-HW10. Based on SXRD technology, this product is an alternative to the LCD and DLPs which dominate our reviews.
Handling, design
Sony is giving us virtual perfection here. Powerful zoom, horizontal and vertical lens-shift, multiple connectivity, quiet, back-lit remote… nothing missing. The only reservation, that we come back to more and more often these days: energy consumption. On stand-by it is at 5.7 watts. Why so high? Other manufacturers are doing much better. Sanyo has 1.1 watts for its PLV-Z3000 and Panasonic 0 watts for its PTAE-3000E. In use, consumption goes up to 206 watts.
The connectivity, usually at the back, is on the side of this projector (on the left if you’re looking from the front). I’m not sure this is an advantage. I prefer the Mitsubishi solution with the HC6500 casing that advances and covers where the cables come in when the projector is placed high-up.
Projected image
You’re not going to get away with it. This section always starts in the same way. All the projectors in the Full HD bracket are excellent. Whichever model you go for, you will be amazed by the quality. Here we do our testing with the images in parallel (thanks to our HDMI signal duplication set-up). So the differences between the models come out. These are the points on which we develop the following analysis.
Lets start with the settings. Although they are detailed in the inset I do want to come back to them briefly. We didn’t manage to get a warm image (tendency to reds). Whatever the settings chosen, we still ended up with an image with a colder tinge (blues/violets). In practice this makes white skin a little pinker and dark skin darker. The image below illustrates this (as well as upscaling that we talk about in the following paragraph)
Among the strong points on the Sony, we should underline the upscaling from SD sources. The final image is a little less sharp than with the Panasonic or Mitsubishi, however the diagonal lines in movement are better defined and less pixellised. To accentuate the sharpness, you can still increase this parameter in the image settings menu. Careful not to force it too far, otherwise you’ll get faces with overly marked traits. A happy medium is 10. Detail in the lightest white zones is well-managed and the video noise well-controlled, even if it has to be said that Sanyo is far ahead of the rest on this point. Lastly, the overall intensity of the image is good.
Natural or dynamic image?
Not a simple choice. After having tested over 90 projectors, I have to say that my choice is rather for the natural image. I don’t really go for a sensational image and prefer a natural result, even if this means that it seems subdued in comparison. Opinion is however clearly divided here at editorial – borne out by blind testing. A great number of the votes went for the Mitsubishis and Panasonic, with brighter more dynamic images. Only a few of us, among whom was our giant of a photographer Renaud, noticed that these models gave a slightly over-bright result and went for the Sony and Sanyo.
| Sony VPL-HW10 | |
|---|---|
| Pluses | Minuses |
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There are some real plus points on this Sony: upscaling, brightness and handling of extreme tones (deep blacks and detailed whites). If youre looking for a neutral or natural image this is an excellent choice as an alternative to the Sanyo PLV-Z300. If you want something warmer go with Mits
- VPL-HW10 DLP Projector...
"...For example, when these mirrors rapidly reflect red and yellow, you will see green..."
This mirrors reflect white light. The color wheel is the device which lets the right color component pass in synch with the DMD.
For example: the DMD is reflecting the blue channel of the image but this is white light coming from the lamp, so the color wheel is letting only the blue part of the spectrum. The same with red and blue.
There are also DLP projectors that use three dmd's with three colored light sources( red green and blue) so no need for a color wheel. A frame being displayed with all color information on the screen at once. This means you can obtain 3 times the frame rate at a broader color depth with no rainbow effect.
Besides being technically wrong as pointed out by bboysil, don't you mean red and green will create yellow? Red and yellow (which isn't a primary color of additive light) makes orange!
http:\\diyprojectorkits.com
I am a member there, and am going to build my own 1080P projector this summer. 40 *THOUSAND* hours of life per bulb. Commercial projectors are for amateurs...
COMPARISON CHARTS PLEASE
Either use standard Or metric but don't mix them both. Inches and ounces in one place, meters in another. Seeing how this is tomsguide/us I would assume standard US measurements, but at least be consistant. Even better, translate the articles or make a simple conversion program.
Wow, this article is a mess. Seems like it was written by half a dozen people and connected in random order. No format consistancy between products. Some mention power consumpsion, some price, some show screen shots, size, weight, etc.
COMPARISON CHARTS PLEASE
I'm guessing that's why no charts, no product has the same info.
OK, I swear this is my last comment:
I couldn't figure out why they were using a condom for size comparison. Turns out it is a Euro coin! How about using something recognizable by the majority it of people reading this article.
Why is this site generating such poor quality articles these days (look at the equally useless webcam article)? What is this Digital Versus? Some copy and paste bot?
I read the Panasonic review then gave up. Doesn't anyone bother proof-reading:
"The fans this shape can relax"
"I ended up forcing the it manually"
"The image below" - it's not below
"When uscaling"
And how useless is the zoom option to see the two(!) Star Ratings?
LOL!@! At first I thought that coin was a condom!!
A very wordy review. This needs metrics to compare each model if this is going to prove of any use.
Nic topic coverage. Bit weird as I have just persuaded the wife that our front room would make a great home entertainment room.
First purchase required.... Projector. Think I'll pop down to my local Sony shop and see for myself just what they are like. The reviews here have done nothing more than give me a starting point. Nothing that allows me to proactively compare the products.
I have the same prob, Firmware update doesn't help me use AC charger while projecting..HELP PLS!!
now my aiptek pocket cinema is dead.i've upgraded the firmware, now it won't turn on...pls help...